VIDEO: Lara Call Gastinger and how to keep a perpetual journal of botanical illustrations

This is about a recently published video of American botanical illustrator Lara Call Gastinger talking about how her botanical sketching and illustration work is produced.

Plus an opportunity to see more videos of Lara working on her perpetual journal and botanical art

I last saw Lara Call Gastinger with her Gold Medal winning exhibit of plants across the months at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2018

ABOUT LARA CALL GASTINGER (GM 2007, 2018)

• graduated from the University of Virginia in 1998 with a degree in Biology. She subsequently achieved a Masters in Plant Biology.
  
• she was the Chief Botanical Illustrator for the Flora of Virginia Project - which involved drawing some 1300 illustrations (about 90% of the illustrations in the Flora of Virginia book)  
• RHS Gold Medal winner in 2007 for a very impressive series on Plants of Virginia - 10 Walks in Virginia which is one of my 'all time favourite' exhibits. 
• She won a second RHS Gold Medal for Seeing Plants; a year in Virginia" - her suite of 12 sepia watercolour paintings of plants she has found on her walks in different months of the year. 
• She frequently draws and paints a compendium of plants with a particular connection eg habitat or season.
• She keeps a Perpetual Sketchbook Journal

ABOUT THE VIDEO: In the Studio with Lara Call Gastinger

This video - which you can see below - has two parts

The first part is a video record of her work. It covers and focuses on

• her seasonal sketchbook journal which has a double page spread for each week of the year - and new sketches are added year by year. This then illustrates the changes in seasonality across the year and from year to year
• how the dating system works - and how she adds sketches and observations every week
• her art materials and supplies for creating entries in the perpetual journal -
  • her sketchbooks,
  • micron pens - in black or sepia. She prefers 003
  • her paints and palettes and containers and brushes,
  • a magnifying lens to help you see plant features
  • a field guide to help identify plants
• her own more developed artwork - created using watercolour paints 
• the benefits of keeping a perpetual journal
  • become more skilled at observation
  • improve your drawing skills and techniques
  • note the changes in plants due to changes in season and the changes in climate
  • use your perpetual journal as a resource to develop your own botanical art and illustrations (and win an RHS Gold Medal!)

Pay attention, be astonished and tell about it.
a quotation which has influenced Lara

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The second part of the video is a live demo via Zoom (30 minutes+) - with those watching live "muted".

• ​she starts her sketches mainly plein air / in the field
• she completes in her studio adding shading - using reference photos and notes
• mostly she draws to scale
• plants with stem tend to come up from the bottom of the page

It includes LOTS of practical tips on journalling and creating your own sketches in a perpetual journal.

The video was produced by the UVA Club of Charlottesville as part of its lockdown series of video interviews with its past graduates.

The subjects of her art come from the natural world and reveal detailed evidence of change, decay, and processes that occur in nature. She strives to make a plant portrait in such a way that it reveals its character and uniqueness. Her focus is on the small details in nature, down to the small venations in leaves, which hopefully inspires others to look deeper and pause a bit longer.
Blue Ridge Discovery Centre

Lara's new Patreon Community

You can also see Lara's perpetual journal sketches on Instagram by following her hashtag #lgperpetualjournal - although watch out as not all posts with this hashtag are by Lara as several other people have adopted it so people see their work too!

Lara has also just launched a brand NEW Patreon Community which will be joining others listed on my Online Botanical Art Courses page VERY soon!  One of the options gives you access to more recorded demos of her working on creating botanical art and nature journalling. ​Check out her launch email about this here

This is a new addition to her Zoom Online Classes on Botanical Journalling which are already SOLD OUT!

Follow Lara Call Gastinger on:
Website https://www.laracallgastinger.com/
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/LaraCallGastingerBotanicalArt/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/laragastinger/

READ MORE: The Art of a Nature Journal | Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden